Automatic sandblast machine



April 8, 1969 Filed Oct. 23, 1967 H. K. NYE

AUTOMATIC SANDBLA ST MACHINE Sheet INVENTOR.

HermnKAQ e BY 42442 & W

ATTORNEYS April 8, 1969 H. K. NYE 3,436,866

AUTOMATIC SANDBLAST MACHINE Filed on 23, 1967 Sheet 6 of 2 1N VEN TOR. Hermw K N e BY ATTORNEYS its 3,436,866 AUTOMATIC SANDBLAST MACHINE I Herman K. Nye, Hummelstown, Pa, assignor to The Will- Burt Company, Orr-ville, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Oct. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 677,216

Int. Cl. B24c 3/06, 3/12 US. Cl. 51-8 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field the invention The invention relates to apparatus for automatic sandblasting of tombstones, tiles, tablets of stone, steel, cop per, bronze and any other material wh1ch has a surface to be acted upon by a comminuted abrasive material blast to provide a satin or frosted surface, a grooved lettering, borderline or similar surface.

Ordinarily, the surface to be acted upon is covered by a protecting stencil made of rubber or the like which is adhesively secured to the tombstones, tablets or the like. The stencil has the configuration desired to be acted upon cutout of the stencil.

Thereafter the comminuted abrasive material blast is produced by a sandblasting. jet directed against the exposed portion surrounded by the stencil-covered surface. The cutout portions of the stencil are acted upon by the blast. The protected surfaces underneath the solid part of the stencil are not acted upon by the \blast.

Description of the prior art Such blasting process has previously been performed in an enclosure to receive the work to be acted upon. The enclosure has an access opening on one side. A curtain having a horizontal slot therein is hung over the access opening and is movable vertically with reference to the enclosure. I

A sandblast jet is inserted through this slot and moved back and forth horizontally therein as the curtain is moved vertically. Originally the sandblast jet was operated manually and in the majority of cases the jet is still manually operated.

However, even the most skillful of operators manually operating the jet are unable to produce a sandblasting effect of the uniform quality, depth and thonoughness which is desired, since they cannot manipulate the jet with uniform motion and are likely to out too deeply in some places and not deep enough in others.

Such hand operation is also harmful to the operators as the silica in the sand, or similar harmful substances in other abrasive material, is continuously inhaled by the operators who in time contract lung diseases such as silicosis.

In an effort to overcome these difficulties, an automatic sandblasting machine has been developed which includes a carriage horizontally movable upon the vertically movable curtain adjacent to the slot therein, the sandblast jet s Patent O f Patented Apr. 8, 1969 being located through said carriage and projected thr ough the horizontal slot in the curtain.

Although this machine performed satisfactory work it was expensive to produce. The curtain had to be remodeled, horizontal tracks being built thereon upon which the carriage was movable. It was also found that although there are several types of curtains in use, made by different manufacturers, only one type of curtain, made by one manufacturer, could be used. This required scrapping of the expensive curtains in use upon many sandblasting enclosures.

Another drawback to this machine was the fact that the sandblast hose carrying the jet or nozzle was located through a round aperture in the carriage within which the hose fitted snugly. Since the nozzle has an enlargement thereon, in the form of a nut, it was necessary that the nozzle be removed from the hose in order that the hose be placed in this opening in the carriage, after which the nozzle was again replaced upon the hose.

As many operators of such equipment Wish to discontinue the automatic operation at times and revert to handoperated blasting, this required considerable additional work on the part of the operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is adapted for application to any conventional sandblast unit having an enclosure now in use regardless of the type of vertically movable slotted curtain covering the access opening therein.

An upright rectangular frame is mounted parallel to and spaced from the front of the curtain. A horizontally disposed elongated carriage is vertically movably mounted in said frame and means is provided attaching this carriage to the curtain. Means is provided for automatically moving this carriage up or down as desired in the frame and correspondingly moving the curtain therewith.

A second carriage is horizontally movable upon rails on the first carriage. The second carriage carries the sandblast hose and has an elongated horizontal slot through one side edge thereof through which the hose may be easily inserted without removing the nozzle therefrom.

A transversely disposed channel is located at the inner end of this slot in the carriage and projects through the slot in the curtain. The hose is laid in this channel with the nozzle at the inner end of the channel, and two hinged clamps are provided for holding the hose stationary in the channel.

It is therefore an object of the invention to generally improve the construction of automatic sandblast machines and to provide a sandblast machine which may be easily and readily applied to any existing sandblast enclosure regardless of the type of vertically movable curtain covering the access opening thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic sandblast machine including a frame space from the front of the curtain of a sandblast enclosure, an elongated, horizontally disposed carriage in said frame, means for automatically moving the carriage up and down in the frame as desired, means connecting the carriage to the curtain for moving the curtain with the carriage, a second carriage horizontally mlovable upon rails on the first carriage, means for connecting a sandblast hose to the second carriage and means for automatically moving the second carriage horizontally upon the rails of the first carriage.

A further object of the invention is to pnovide such a sandblast machine in which the carriage carrying the sandblast hose has an elongated horizontal slot in one side with a transversely disposed channel member located in the inner end of the slot and hinged clamping means thereon.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a sandblast machine of the character referred to in which there are springmounted wheels upon each of said earriages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a sandblast machine constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line 22, FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front elevation of the horizontally movable carriage;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the same; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the same.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A conventional sandblast unit with an enclosure is indicated at 1 and has an access opening in one side, indicated at 2. As in usual practice, a flexible curtain 3 is located in front of the access opening 2 and has a sealing surface cooperating with the access opening in sufiicient sealing relationship with the enclosure to prevent any substantial outward escape of air and abrasive material past such sealing surface, as disclosed in Zieber et al. Patent No. 2,953,876, issued Sept. 27, 1960.

The upper end of the curtain is supported upon the curtain roller 4 upon which the curtain may wind and unwind. Counterweights 5, attached to the roller 4 by cables 6, maintain the curtain 3 under upward tension.

The usual horizontal slot 7 is provided in the curtain, said slot being normally covered as in usual practice by multiple layers of flexible curtain material, slit as indicated at 8. So much of the structure is of usual and well known design, as is commonly provided for handblasting.

The invention comprehends mounting an upright frame on any typical sandblast unit spaced in front of the curtain by lower brackets 2a and upper brackets 2b (FIGS. 1 and 2). The frame comprises the horizontal bottom and top members 9 and 10, respectively, and the vertical side members 11, upon the inner surfaces of which are located the vertical rails 12.

A horizontally disposed carriage, indicated generally at 13, is vertically movable upon the vertical members 11 and comprises generally the vertical end members 14, the horizontal, inverted spaced V-shape rails 15 and 15' mounted on the vertical end members 14 and the double flanged wheels 16 and 17 journalled upon the vertical end members 14, and riding on the vertical rails 12. The wheels are preferably mounted in oil-sealed ball bearings.

As shown in FIG. 1 the wheels 17 may be springmounted, as indicated at 18, so that the proper tension is maintained thereon at all times regardless of wear, and so that they are flexible enough to roll over any material adhering to the rails which might interfere with their free movement.

Mounted on one of the vertical members 11 is a bracket 19, upon which is mounted a reversing electric motor 20 for controlling the vertical movement of the carriage 13. A pulley 21 upon the shaft of the motor 20 is connected by belt 22 to a pulley 23 connected to a gear reduction 24. A pulley 25, connected to the gear reduction, is connected by belt 26 with a pulley 27 upon the shaft 28. This shaft is journalled in bearings 29 mounted upon upper gusset plates 30 at the upper corners of the upright frame. Similar gusset plates 31 are provided at the lower corners of the frame for reinforcing the same.

Drums 32 are fixed upon opposite ends of the shaft 28 and cables 33 are attached to the drums and to the vertical end members 14 of the carriage 13. Straps 34 connect the vertical end members 14 of the carriage 13 to opposite edge portions of the curtain 3 adjacent to the slot '7 therein so that the curtain will be raised and lowered in unison with the carriage 13.

A second carriage, indicated generally at 35, is mounted for back and forth horizontal movement upon the ver tically movable carriage 13. This carriage is shown in detail in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 and comprises one of the principal features of the invention. This carriage comprises essentially the vertically disposed steel plate 36 with an inverted channel 37 Welded or otherwise secured to its lower edge. The plate 36 has a horizontal slot 38 extending through one side edge thereof.

A pair of wheels 39, having V-grooves 40 therein, are journalled in the inverted channel member 37 as indicated at 41 and ride upon the lower horizontal rail 15'. The peripheries of the upper wheels 42 of the carriage 35 are of substantially wedge-shape and ride within the inverted V-shaped upper rail 15. All of the wheels are preferably mounted on oil-sealed ball bearings. The upper wheels 42 are spring-mounted, each being journalled within the bifurcated arm 43 of an angle member pivoted at 44 upon opposite side edge portions of the steel plate 36, the other arm 45 thereof being spring-mounted as indicated at 46.

Thus the carriage 35 rolls in a horizontal direction on the two inverted V-shaped tracks 15 and 15' so that the wheels are protected from accumulation of abrasive material. The two top wheels 42 being spring-mounted, a proper tension is maintained thereon at all times. The wheels are thus flexible enough to roll over any material that might interfere with their free movement. The top wheels rolling underneath the inverted V have the maximum protection from abrasive material.

A transversely disposed channel member 47 is mounted in the bottom of the inner end of the slot 38 in the steel plate 36 of the carriage 35 and is adapted to extend through the slitted portion 8 at the slot 7 of the curtain 3. This channel member is adapted to receive the sandblast hose 48. Clamping members 49 are pivoted as at 50 near opposite ends of the channel member 47 and provided with wing screws 51 for engagement with the lip 52 upon the channel member 47. The nozzle is indicated at 53 with enlarged portion 54 thereon.

For the purpose of automatically moving the carriage 35 back and forth horizontally upon the rails 15 and 15', transmission mechanism is mounted upon a bracket plate 55 which is mounted upon one of the vertical members 14 of the carriage 13. A reversing motor 56 is mounted upon the bracket plate 55 and a pulley upon the shaft 57 thereof is connected by belt 58 with a pulley upon the shaft 59 of a gear reduction 60.

A pulley 61, driven by the gear reduction 60, is connected by a cable 62 with an idler pulley 63, journalled upon the other side member 14 of the horizontal carriage 13.

The cable 62 is connected to the carriage 35 as indicated at 62' in FIGS. 1 and 3.

In the event the curtain is of the type having a bottom roller 64, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cable 65 may connect the top roller 4 and the bottom roller 64 so as to cause the curtain to roll upon the bottom roller 64 as it unrolls from the top roller 4, or vice versa.

A control cabinet 66 is provided upon the front of the frame and has thereon a starting switch button 67 for starting vertical movement of the carriage 13 and a starting button 68 for starting horizontal movement of the carriage 35. Lighted push buttons 69 and 70 are provided for indicating up and down movement, respectively, of the carriage 13 and for manually controlling the same when desired.

Lighted right and left push buttons 71 and 72, respectively, are provided for indicating right and left hand horizontal movement, respectively, of the carriage 35, as well as for manually operating the same.

A vertical bar 73 is connected to and spaced outwardly from the bottom and top members 9 and 10, respectively, of the frame and has mounted thereon a pair of adjustable stops 74 for alternate engagement by a limit switch 75,

mounted upon the bracket plate 55, for automatically reversing up and down movement of the carriage 13.

In like manner a pair of adjustable stops 76 are mounted upon the top rail 15 of the carriage 13 for alternate engagement with a limit switch 77 for auto matic movement of the carriage 35 horizontally back and forth.

THE OPERATION In the operation of the machine, after the work has been set in place within the enclosure 1, with the surface to be sandblasted properly covered with a stencil, the machine is adjusted for the desired operation.

The adjustable stops 74 are set at the proper positions on the vertical bar 73 to provide for the desired up and down movement of the carriage 13, and the adjustable stops 76 are set at the proper positions on the upper horizontal rail 15 of the carriage 13 to provide for the desired back and forth horizontal movement of the carriage 35.

The hose 48 is clamped in place in the transverse channel member 47 of the carriage 35, with the nozzle 53 projected through the slot in the curtain, and the hose is connected to a suitable source of sand or other abrasive material propelled by a blast of compressed air on the like.

The starting switches 6-7 and 68 are closed to start the vertical movement of the carriage 13 and the curtain 1, and the horizontal movement of the carriage 35, and the push buttons 69 or 70 and 71 or 72 are pushed to start either up or down vertical movement and either right or left horizontal movement.

The machine will then operate automatically in the general manner as described in the above mentioned Zieber et al. Patent No. 2,953,876, continuously moving the blast jet back and forth horizontally and up and down vertically within any desired limits.

Many operators of such equipment wish at times to discontinue automatic operation and revert to handblastin g for certain work. To do this the automatic switches 67 and 68 in the control cabinet 66 are first opened. The opening between the horizontal rails 15 ad 15' on which the carriage 35 rides corresponds exactly with the slot 7 in the curtain 1.

The carriage 35 is built in such a manner that by running it to the right, the two clamps 49 which hold the hose 48 and nozzle 53 in position for automatic blasting can be immediately detached by loosening the wing screws 51 and sliding the hose and nozzle out of the slot 38.

When the handblasting operation is completed, the hose and nozzle may be easily and readily placed back in original position and the automatic buttons in the control cabinet 66 are pushed to put the machine back into automatic operation.

In the foregoing description certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such words are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to be broadly construed.

Moreover, the embodiments of the improved construction illustrated and described herein are by way of example, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exact details of construction.

Having now described the invention or discovery, the construction, the operation, and the use of preferred embodiments thereof, and the advantageous new and useful results obtained thereby; the new and useful construction, and reasonable mechanical equivalents thereof obvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an automatic sandblast machine comprising an enclosure adapted to receive work to be acted upon by a blast of comminuted abrasive material, said enclosure having an access opening, a movable curtain having a sealing surface cooperating with said access opening to produce a sufiicient sealing relationship with said enclosure to prevent any substantial outward escape of air past said sealing surface, said curtain having a transverse slot, a comminuted abrasive material blast hose and nozzle projecting through the slot, a carriage movable back and forth adjacent to the slot and supporting said blast hose and nozzle, said carriage having a slot through one side thereof for receiving said blast hose, a downwardly disposed notch at the inner end of the slot in said carriage for receiving said blast hose and nozzle, and means for holding said blast hose and nozzle in said downwardly disposed notch.

2. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 1, the means at the inner end of the slot for receiving and holding said blast hose and nozzle comprising a transversely disposed channel member located in said notch, and hinged clamping members near each end of said channel member.

3. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 1, means for supporting said carriage comprising spaced upper and lower rails movable up and down in unison with the curtain, and wheels upon the carriage riding on said rails.

4. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 3, said rails being inverted V-shape, the upper wheels having peripheries of substantially wedge-shape cross section riding in the upper rail and the lower wheels having V-shape peripheral grooves riding on the lower rail.

5. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 3, certain of said wheels being spring-mounted.

6. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 3, each of the wheels riding on said upper rail being mounted upon one arm of an angle member having two arms and pivoted to the carriage, the other arm of the angle member being spring-biased urging the last named wheels against the upper rail.

7. In an automatic sandblast machine comprising an enclosure adapted to receive work to be acted upon by a blast of comminuted abrasive material, said enclosure having an access opening, a movable curtain having a sealing surface cooperating with said access opening to produce sufiicient sealing relationship with said enclosure to prevent any substantial outward escape of air past said sealing surface, said curtain having a transverse slot, spaced upper and lower rails located adjacent to said slot, means for moving said rails up and down in unison with the curtain, a carriage movable back and forth relative to said slot in the curtain, upper and lower Wheels upon the carriage riding upon the upper and lower rails respectively, one set of said wheels being springmounted, and a comminuted abrasive material, blast hose and nozzle connected to said carriage.

8. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 7, in which the horizontal rails are both of inverted V-shape, the carriage having upper Wheels with peripheries of wedge-shape cross section riding in the upper rail, and the lower wheels having V-shaped peripheral grooves riding on the lower rail.

9. In an automatic sandblast machine as defined in claim 7, each upper wheel being mounted upon one arm of an angle member having two arms and pivoted upon the carriage, the other arm of said angle member being spring-biased.

10. An automatic sandblast machine attachment for a sandblast unit of the type in which work to be acted upon by a blast of comminuted abrasive material is located in a unit enclosure having an access opening closed by a vertically movable curtain maintained in sealing relation with said enclosure access opening and in which the unit curtain has a transverse slot; the attachment including a rectangular upright frame comprising horizontal bottom and top and vertical side members, means mounting the 7 frame on a sandblast unit parallel with and spaced outwardly of the unit movable curtain, said frame having a pair of spaced vertically disposed rails; a first horizontally disposed vertically movable carriage formed of vertical end members and a pair of vertically spaced horizontally disposed rails, Wheel means mounted on the first carriage and engaged with and movable along the frame rails; a second carriage having wheel means mounted and movable on the first carriage rails; means connecting the first carriage with the unit movable curtain; means mounted on the frame for automatically moving the first carriage up and down upon the frame; means mounted on the first carriage for automatically moving the second carriage horizontally back and forth upon the first carriage; and a comminuted abrasive material blast jet supported upon the second carriage and adapted to project through the slot in said unit curtain.

11. The construction defined in claim 10 in which certain of the wheel means on each of the first and second carriages are spring mounted.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,849,384 3/ 1932 Ruemelin 51--8 1,882,541 10/1932 Billman 518 2,063,054 12/ 1936 Rosenberger 51-8 2,075,369 3/1937 Stetler 51-180 2,495,269 1/ 1950 Lindmark 5115 2,953,876 9/1960 Zieber 518 LESTER M. SWINGLE, Primary Examiner. 

